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"I shall speak nothing more- only this I would have you know..."

Just recently in 2017 FULGUR added a set of 10 outstanding doorways to the already existing body of magical expedition maps. Their breathtaking book 'Decad of Intelligence' is a beast so rare and precious, it actually is not a book at all. It is the kind of object you will not want to place on a shelf, but rather allow it to breathe in your temple.

Anything we learn the hard way follows the same pattern: We learn of its value by NOT achieving it. We learn about the value of a skill by experiencing the discomfort when it is not available and yet dearly needed. In light of this the Saturnalia, the period we are entering each year on the 17th of December is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on power - and what we can learn about it from being powerless.

The main intent of this post is to convince you to watch this movie. (...) Despite its genuine pulp-fiction nature Perdita Durango holds a few lessons in store about the nature of magic that are not to be missed. In particular for any Western high magician who never saw their own blood drip into the dust while deep in shamanic trance...

So here is an abbreviated shortlist of all the wonderful people from whom I received significant service in 2017. They all left a mark and are now part of my journey. For that I am truly grateful and want to thank them all. Hopefully I have had - or will have in 2018 - a chance to repay them in likeminded service. So that the scales remain in good balance...

In four short commentaries we’ll shine a light on some of the magical scenes this wonderful action movie is taking us into. The following brief comments are not at all meant to ‘explain’ the respective scenes, but to draw our attention to specific places in the narrative of a movie that might deserve a second viewing...

In an exclusive partnership with the wonderful Marissa Newell of 'Veil of Earth' we are proud to present an original, new magical artefact - combining an excerpt of the 4th century 'Oratio Cypriana' with Mrs.Newell exceptional skills in traditional pottery.

Each book of the Deluxe Edition is entirely hand bound, in full fine leather on order. The stunning highlight of this unique binding comes in its three-levelled relief frontispiece, featuring an igneous Cyprian of Antioch icon.

The forthcoming book 'Cyprian of Antioch: A Mage of Many Faces' is the result of more than two years of academic research and first hand magical work with the spirit of St.Cyprian. It’s intent was to take the reader on a literary journey into the presence and spirit of Cyprian himself.

This September the University of Leipzig is making a bold move: Over three full days, from September 14th to 16th the department has organised the first cross-epochs academic conference on the Grimoire tradition: 'Books of Magic – Words of Magic – Cultures of Magical Knowledge from Antiquity to Modern Times'.

Join me on a virtual exhibition tour and discover the curious artefacts of European folk-magic: skulls to swear by, relics to be mixed with your food, and crowns to be worn by the corpse. Upon closer examination we'll find many surviving ties between the pragmatic folk-rites of our ancestors and the old Grimoire tradition of the West.

WARNING: If you are an old-school grimoire ritualist - or simply fancy things that are shiny and beautiful - please be warned. You might blush or even loose sleep over the quantity of mystical paraphernalia displayed in this post.

Here is the story of an anonymous 13th century German recluse who voluntarily confined herself to a hermitage and struggled through the 'dark night of the soul' - until she finally achieved first-hand vision of angels and the nature of the soul.

(...) So here is some of what I personally learned from experience about the nature of spiritual beings. It might be hugely at odds with authoritative source texts, Apollonius, Agrippa or even - gods forbid - the Hermetica ...

A formula is meant to provide orientation. This formula is looking at the necessary foundations for any magic to achieve proper results. You might not need it if you are well orientated already. I still learn a lot from understanding and applying it in my own practice.

Such was the case when I got the spirit's name tattooed on my chest - just like the golem was brought to life when its creator wrote the word 'ameth' on its chest. In the most literal sense I also signed this spirit pact in my own blood. The promise of this pact was for me to accept a part of my nature as a golem. That part is now bound to inhale the 'life' which this spirit breathes into me. That part is bound to walk into the circle I am being conjured into, rather than to conjure myself.

In a not at all metaphorical sense JSK’s final double volume is an expedition into the ancestral blood-ties of this famous sorcerer-saint. To embark on it is to encounter Cyprian the Mage. Not only as the hero of an ancient polemic against the last surviving pagans, but more importantly as a still present inner contact, a powerful spirit in its own right.

Here are ten academic facts on Cyprian of Antioch you might not have heard about. We'll hear about Apollonius of Tyana, the Greek Magical Papyri as well as a Greek satire that might have well paved the way for Cyprian's own legend... An excellent distraction while you wait for Rubedo Press' Cypriana: Old World.

(...) Herein lies the crux of vertical development: at first sight it seems like a loosing game. Any time we move forward on our vertical ascent the journey begins with us being proven wrong, with us accepting that part of the reality we had lived in is an illusion. Step by step we discover more subjective filters that ‘have us’ rather than us ‘having’ them. As anybody who has raised kids knows - growing up is a damn hard business. You bleed dreams, phantasies and imagined powers on this path more than you can care to count.

This essay in two chapters is exploring what in Kabbala is often referred to as the 'rainbow path'. A cryptical reference in most books only - referring to a pathway of direct mystical ascent. To begin with, and in order to ground our exploration in everyday life, we'll be looking at the contemporary field of adult learning - and a related philosophy and practice of facilitating deep personal change that emerged from it recently.

As mages we are known to stand at crossroads. That's where we perform our best work - at that liminal place where two worlds, two forces, two beings intersect. In this post we will be exploring such a crossroad: the one where magic and modern artificial intelligence research intersect.